or in the real world. >> reporter: the need is exploding.thepentagon's u.s.cyber command is drawing up plans to bring 4,000 new computer security experts onboard. homeland security secretary janet napolitano warns that the lack of experts nationwide is critical. >> it should be encrypted here and is not. >> reporter: the university of southern california is among a handful of the nation's colleges answering the call, preparing to offer a degree in cyber security. >> for whatever type of system that i'm going to develop for somebody i want to make sure that it's secure. >> in the past if your computer got attacked, maybe you were worried about slow start up speeds. now they can actually affect your livelihood. >> reporter: educators say it's essential to start building the cyber work force earlier in schools and colleges, preparing for one part of the economy everyone agrees is expanding as the cyber threat spreads. pete williams, nbc news, washington. >>> the man who has been on the forefront of fighting cyber attacks among other threats at the pentagon is weighing in on the grilling his lik

your perspective onthepentagon's rolein securing our embassies? we just had a near suicide attack, if you will, suicide bomber, at an embassy in turkey just last week. what can be done more than what has been done now? >> the important things to do are first of all you've got to build up the host country capacity. in the end, these embassies do depend on host country, the details that provide security. so you've got to try to develop that. >> this shouldn't be more marines? >> no, no. let me get the rest of the part of it. you have to harden these embassies as much as possible. and third, we have been working with the ste department to determine whether additional marines ought to be assigned to that area. and in the end, the final alternative is our ability to respond in having our troops in a position where they can respond quickly. but i have to tell you, a lot of that still is dependent on whether intelligence tells us that we've got a big problem, and gives us enough warning so that we can get to the place to respond. >> did you have enough time to get there in time? >> no. >